The Great Rachel Berry
by iee918
Summary: "She hated the idea of belonging to someone. She was independent. She was her own woman, and no one could tell her otherwise. She had gotten where she was in life on her own." But is where she has gotten in life a good place for her? Incomplete. R
1. Finn's Girlfriend

If you asked anyone what Rachel Berry would do with her life, the answer would come to their lips in a second.

"Singer."

"Performer."

"Actress."

And from them all, "_Drama Queen._"

Rachel was proud of her accomplishments in high school. She was, no doubt about it, the best singer in her school. She got all of the solos in Glee club, she was offered the lead in the school musicals. There was always the pang of discomfort in the back of her mind—her reputation. Everyone hated her, and she knew it. She was known as a goody-two shoes. An annoying little brat. The pompous bitch who steals all of the solos. And the one she hated the most—Finn's girlfriend. The other names were cruel, but she knew how to deal with cruel. Finn's girlfriend, however, was just unfathomable. She hated the idea of _belonging_ to someone. She was independent. She was her own woman, and no one could tell her otherwise. She had gotten where she was in life on her own.

Junior year, Rachel and Finn were still going strong, despite the names she was called. But one Friday, things changed.

"Wait up!" Finn called from a bit down the hall.

"Hey," Rachel smiled at her boyfriend when he caught up.

"Do you wanna go out tonight? Like to a nice restaurant or something?"

"You never take me out on dates."

"Exactly. You deserve better. Do you wanna go to Breadsticks?"

"Oh my God, Finn, really? That is _so_ sweet!" she wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him tightly.

"I love you, Rach."

"I…I love you too," she said, her eyes searching his.

"I'll pick you up at eight?" he asked. She nodded as he kissed her on the cheek and quickly rounded the corner to his next class. The hours seemed to drag by for the both of them, both excitedly awaiting the first nice, official date they'd been on in a while. Finally, it was eight, and Rachel was sitting at the piano, sight-reading out of a new Disney music book her dads had bought for her. The doorbell rang, and she jumped up to open the door.

"You look gorgeous," he greeted her with a peck on the lips.

"You don't look too bad yourself," she replied, beaming.

"Ready to go?"

"Yup, let's go! I'm going out!" she called to her dads as they stepped out the door. Finn opened the car door for her, pulled out her chair for her, and assured her that he would be paying the bill when they got to the restaurant. Half way through the meal, Finn reached into his pocket and pulled something out.

"Rachel, I love you."

"I love you too, Finn," she replied.

"I love you, and I care for you _so_ much," he continued. "I want you to know that I will never, ever purposely hurt you, and I will never abandon you. I love you, Rachel Berry. I want to be with you for the rest of our lives, if you'll have me. But that seems too far into the future. I love you, and I want you to know that I will_ always_ be true to you, and I'll respect your wishes about sex. I promise, I _promise_ that I will always respect you, always love you, and always wait for you. Will you wait for me?" He swallowed hard when he finished his speech. Her eyes widened. She wasn't ready for this—she didn't want to be tied down. Sure, she loved Finn, but she still had her whole career ahead of her. What if she needed to travel to England for an incredibly important job opportunity when they were twenty-six and they were already married and had children? She couldn't move the whole family to England for months, but she couldn't be away from her children and husband for that long!

"Finn, I don't know what to say," she hesitated. "I need to be my own person. My independence is so important to me, and settling before my career has taken off…It's risky. Don't get me wrong, I love you, but will that be enough?"

"I can join you on stage. We'll duet! We have experience with that!" he said desperately.

"Then how will we ever be able to have a family with us both on the road?"

"Rachel, please. Just take this ring! Please! It is our promise to each other that we will stay true to each other. Can you do that much? I love you!" he exclaimed. He paused to let this sink in, and she was silent. Finally, she held out her hand, and he slipped the ring onto her finger.

"It's beautiful, Finn. Thank you," she smiled as she examined it, and reached over to take his hand. She ignored any feelings of regret and doubt in her mind. He loved her. She loved him. That had to be enough.


	2. Regrets

When Finn dropped her off that night, Rachel hurried straight to her room. She sat down on her bed and slipped off the beautiful ring from her finger. She stared at it from all angles, her delicate fingers carefully feeling their way across the ring. Engraved on the inside of the ring was, "I love you." Rachel jammed the ring back on to her finger.

"_Love,_" she muttered aloud. Love is what had gotten her into this whole mess. She was sixteen, for God's sake. She didn't need to be thinking about _marriage_. She flipped onto her stomach and rolled her eyes at the thought of Finn's corny speech. She knew that she shouldn't have accepted the ring.

"And all I see is him and me, forever and forever," she sang to herself softly. "_That's_ how love should be." When she pictured her future, she didn't see herself and Finn, forever and forever.

"Good night, sweet pea," she heard her dad knocking on her door softly.

"Night. I love you!" she called.

"G'night, honey!" her other dad added. She smiled halfheartedly to herself and reached over to her nightstand, pulling out the drawer. She carefully placed the ring into it and barricaded the other items around it, and shut it without another glance. She knew, deep in her heart, that she'd have to give the ring back to Finn as soon as she could. They were _not_ meant to be, and she knew it. She reluctantly slipped into sleep, singing the lyrics to herself as a lullaby.

"No! I can't believe you! I'm sorry, Finn!" Rachel mumbled, rolling back and forth within the confines of her bed.

"Rachel? Are you okay?" her dad knocked on her door. She jolted awake, brushing her hair behind her ear.

"Um, yeah, I'm fine," she looked around, trying to get a grasp on her surroundings.

"Well you overslept, honey. Are you sure you're not sick?"

"Positive… I just had a bad dream. Can you drive me to school in a few minutes?"

"Sure. I'll be in the living room, give me a shout." She heard his footsteps padding away from her door.

"Finn will leave me if I don't keep this ring, won't he?" she wondered to herself. "What have I gotten myself into?" Rachel climbed out of bed and ran a brush through her tangled hair. She heated up her expensive straightener before applying her usual makeup. Within seconds, the straightener was heated and she flattened the ends of her hair.

"Clothes! What is wrong with me today!" she asked herself as she looked down to see she was wearing pajamas. She pulled on her usual animal sweater and skirt and spritzed a squirt of perfume onto herself.

"Ready!" she called to her dad as she left the room. She grabbed her lunch from the fridge and stuffed it into her backpack. She slipped on her buckle shoes and her coat and ran to the car, where her father was already waiting.

"Drive, I'm gonna be late!" she demanded fiercely. "What time is it?"

"Seven twenty-nine, sweetie. School starts at forty. You won't be that late, I promise," he tried to pacify her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I don't know. Ugh, I can't talk about this right now."

"Honey, you know you feel better when you talk about these things," her dad chided her softly.

"Dad! Not now!" Rachel yelled. They pulled up to the school and she jumped out of the car.

"Bye, Rachel, love you!"

"Love you too, bye," she said hurriedly as she slammed the car door shut.

"Hey Rachel!" Finn greeted her. She shrieked, not seeing him next to her.

"Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Sorry," he grinned, grabbing her hand. "Hey, why aren't you wearing the promise ring?"

"I…uhh, didn't want to lose it!" she tried to reassure him.

"Rachel, that ring is a symbol of our commitment to each other. You don't want to wear it?"

"I just didn't want to lose it!" she said, walking into the school.

"That ring is really important to me, Rachel. I wanted it to be special for you too!"

"It is! It's just…Can we do this later? I have to get going, I'm late for first period," Rachel tried to push past him farther into the school.

"It's a symbol of our love, Ray!"

"I'm sorry, Finn. Can we please talk about this later?"

"What later? Honestly, Rachel? I don't know if there's going to be a later."

"Finn, don't be melodramatic. It's just a ring."

"_Just_ a ring? Rachel…I can't believe you. Whatever. See 'ya around," Finn started walking inside.

"Are you…breaking up with me? Over this?"

"I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know anything anymore."

"C'mon, Finn!"

"Like you said, we're going to be late for first period. Bye."

"Bye," she echoed softly as the bell rang and he turned the corner. "Goodbye, Finn."

**A/N- I know this is super stupid and dramatic, but it's late, I haven't updated in a while, and I'm exhausted. If it completely sucks, I'll change this last part. I shouldn't be trusted posting at this hour :] **


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